5 tips to improve your listening skills in English
Listening can be a challenge at times and it’s not always clear what you can do to help improve this particular skill. You can of course improve listening skills in English by speaking to native speakers but if you don’t have much chance to do this then hopefully these tips will help.
Transcribe
Choose some content you can listen to that is appropriate to your level of English and something you find interesting. Listen to it a number of times until you become familiar with the content. Write down what you hear, word for word, using transcription software or better still using a pen and some paper.
Think about punctuation and try to make accurate guesses thinking about the context if you’re not quite sure about a phrase or specific word. Make sure you take some breaks so you don’t lose concentration or get tired and check your work for accuracy or any errors.
While reading through your transcript listen to the content again to double check it’s correct. Use an online resource like WordReference or a dictionary in order to check the meaning and spelling of any words unfamiliar to you. To improve your skills practise transcribing different audio files or videos, boosting your overall proficiency in English.
Watch series and movies in the original language
Watching a series you love or a film you’ve seen before in the original language is a great way of boosting your knowledge.
Adding subtitles in the original language so that you can listen and read at the same time is one of the best ways of learning. It not only practises listening but it helps improve your speaking skills and adds to your grammar.
Focus on what is familiar to you
If you’re just starting out on your English learning journey then you might need to stop quite often to understand unfamiliar words or ones you’ve seen before but you can’t remember the meaning of.
In situations like this, it’s key that you focus on what you already know. This way you will be able to understand the gist (meaning in a general sense) by using what you already know.
More ways to improve your listening skills in English
Listen to podcasts
You cannot add subtitles to podcasts unfortunately although they can help you by making you rely only on your hearing, which makes you pay more attention to the content.
Besides this, you can alter the playback speed of the audio, this can help you better identify some sentences and specific words.
Make sure you choose a topic you’re interested in and think about a professional theme if you’re looking to improve your career prospects.
We have our very own English language podcast, English with Monty. We even have an episode about finding a job in the UK. Why don’t you have a listen?
Listen to music and read lyrics
If you like music with English lyrics then listening to it can be a really effective and fun way to improve your listening skills.
Choose some songs that you like and listen to them a few times, focusing on the words and try to understand what the lyrics mean. You can make it easier by printing out the lyrics and follow them while you’re listening. Highlight words or phrases that you don’t know.
Now you should be able to sing along and think about how many idiomatic expressions and new words you have learnt. Impress your friends by telling them what your favourite song is all about!
